Greater New Orleans

Coach Jake Gautreau signals his defense during the game between the Rice Owls and Tulane Green Wave at Turchin Stadium on Friday, April 11, 2014. (Michael DeMocker, Nola.com / The Times-Picayune)
(Michael DeMocker)

Tulane interim baseball coach Jake Gautreau will interview with the university today for the permanent position, several sources confirmed on Tuesday.

Gautreau assumed the program's head position duties in April, just a few games after head coach Rick Jones got sent home with health concerns. Jones did not return to the dugout this spring and announced his retirement over a week ago.

But Tulane did not elevate Gautreau to the head position immediately, instead opting for a nationwide search.

That search turned up a slew of candidates including Illinois State head coach Mark Kingston, the program's former recruiting coordinator under Jones in the 2000's.

At Tulane, Kingston produced Top 25 recruiting classes in six of his seven seasons as recruiting coordinator. That included a 2005 class ranked No. 4 in the nation by Baseball America.

Kingston, according to the Pantagraph newspaper in Bloomington, Illinois, did not make the scheduled trip to interview with Tulane Tuesday. The outlet reported that Kingston was on Illinois State's campus on Tuesday. Instead, it appears Kingston, the Illinois State head baseball coach, could accept another position, two sources said.

Gautreau, a former captain on one of Jones' two College World Series teams, finished the spring with a 9-13 record. The club went 23-29, and 10-18 in Conference USA, failing to qualify for the league tournament for the first time since 2010.

Jones said consistently all spring and after his retirement announcement that he thinks Gautreau would make an excellent head coach. Gautreau, who interviewed for the Louisiana Tech head coach opening last week, said earlier this spring that he is fiercely interested in continuing on with Tulane. Gautreau has not returned requests for interviews since the season's conclusion.

"If Coach Jones can't return I want to be here," Gautreau said after the final game of the season. "This is home for me; this is a place I take a lot of pride in the way I go about my business. I am proud to be here, and I want to stay."